Jeff Gordon

Jeff Gordon
Gordon at Atlanta Motor Speedway in 2019
BornJeffery Michael Gordon
(1971-08-04) August 4, 1971 (age 52)
Vallejo, California, US
Height5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Weight150 lb (68 kg)
Achievements1995, 1997, 1998, 2001 Winston Cup Series Champion
2017 Rolex 24 at Daytona Overall Winner
1991 USAC Silver Crown Series Champion
1990 USAC National Midget Series Champion
1997, 1999, 2005 Daytona 500 Winner
1994, 1998, 2001, 2004, 2014 Brickyard 400 Winner
1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2002, 2007 Southern 500 Winner
1994, 1997, 1998 Coca-Cola 600 Winner
1995, 1997, 2001 Sprint All-Star Race Winner
1994, 1997 Advance Auto Parts Clash Winner
Awards1991 Busch Series Rookie of the Year
1993 Winston Cup Series Rookie of the Year
Named one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers (1998)
National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame (2009)
Silver Buffalo Award (2009)
Heisman Humanitarian Award (2012)
Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (2018)[1]
NASCAR Hall of Fame (2019)
West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame (2019)
Named one of NASCAR's 75 Greatest Drivers (2023)
See other awards and honors below
NASCAR Cup Series career
805 races run over 25 years
Best finish1st (1995, 1997, 1998, 2001)
First race1992 Hooters 500 (Atlanta)
Last race2016 Goody's Fast Relief 500 (Martinsville)
First win1994 Coca-Cola 600 (Charlotte)
Last win2015 Goody's Headache Relief Shot 500 (Martinsville)
Wins Top tens Poles
93 477 81
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
73 races run over 5 years
Best finish4th (1992)
First race1990 AC-Delco 200 (Rockingham)
Last race2000 Miami 300 (Homestead)
First win1992 Atlanta 300 (Atlanta)
Last win2000 Miami 300 (Homestead)
Wins Top tens Poles
5 32 12
Statistics current as of October 30, 2016.

Jeffery Michael Gordon[2] (born August 4, 1971) is an American stock car racing executive and former professional stock car racing driver who currently serves as the vice chairman of Hendrick Motorsports. He raced full-time from 1993 to 2015, driving the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports in the former NASCAR Winston Cup Series and Sprint Cup Series (now called NASCAR Cup Series), and also served as a substitute driver for Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the No. 88 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports in select races during the 2016 season.[3] He is regarded as one of the best and most influential drivers in NASCAR history, helping the sport reach mainstream popularity.

Gordon started his professional racing career in the Busch Series with Hugh Connerty Racing, followed by Bill Davis Racing, winning three races, and began racing full-time in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series for Hendrick Motorsports in 1993. He is a four-time Cup Series champion, having won the title in 1995, 1997, 1998, and 2001. He also won the Daytona 500 three times in 1997, 1999, and 2005. Gordon has completed three career Grand Slams and has won a total of sixteen Crown Jewel races (three Daytona 500s, four Talladega 500s, three Coca-Cola 600s, and six Southern 500s), both of which are all-time records.

He is third on the all-time Cup wins list with 93 career wins, while having the record for the most wins in NASCAR's modern era (1972–present) and the most wins in one modern era season, with 13 during the 1998 NASCAR Winston Cup Series. Gordon's 81 pole positions led all active drivers and is third all-time, and also a modern era record; Gordon won at least one pole in 23 consecutive seasons, making this a NASCAR record. Other records include the most restrictor plate track wins with 12 and the most road course wins with 9,[4] and he was the active "iron man" leader for consecutive races participated in with 797 through the 2015 season.[5]

In 1998, NASCAR named Gordon to its 50 Greatest Drivers list. Ten years later in a 2008 article, ESPN's Terry Blount ranked him 10th in the 25 Greatest Drivers of All-Time.[6] Foxsports.com named him as the fifth best NASCAR driver of all time.[7] He was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2019. As of 2016, Gordon was considered the highest-paid NASCAR driver ever and the 18th highest-paid athlete of all-time with $515 million in career earnings, per Forbes.[8]

Gordon, along with Rick Hendrick, co-owns the No. 48 Chevrolet previously driven by Jimmie Johnson, who won seven Cup championships from 2006 to 2010, 2013, and in 2016. Gordon also has an equity stake in the No. 24 team.[9] Gordon also owned a Busch Series team between 1999 and 2000, Gordon/Evernham Motorsports (co-owned with Ray Evernham; later solely owned as JG Motorsports), winning twice.

  1. ^ Jeff Gordon at the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America
  2. ^ Garner 2016, p. 16.
  3. ^ "Jeff Gordon Class of 2019 Inductee". NASCAR Hall of Fame.
  4. ^ "The records that helped put Jeff Gordon in the NASCAR Hall of Fame". Axalta.
  5. ^ "Sprint Cup Series All-Time Starts". Jayski's Silly Season Site. Archived from the original on February 10, 2017. Retrieved September 27, 2015.
  6. ^ Blount, Terry (May 23, 2008). "The Kid, The King, the Silver Fox and two of open-wheel racing's very best". ESPN. Retrieved October 4, 2013.
  7. ^ "Ranking the 20 greatest NASCAR drivers of all time". Foxsports.com. February 22, 2012. Archived from the original on March 22, 2014. Retrieved September 23, 2013.
  8. ^ "The highest-paid athletes of all-time". Forbes.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference Lifetime contract was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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